According to an ABC report, Macro Realty Developments Pte Ltd is controlled by Australian Veronica Macpherson (picture) and received over A$110 million (S$119 million), mostly from Singaporean and Malaysian investors.

PETALING JAYA - Singaporean police are investigating a property company believed to be involved in a ponzi scheme that conned hundreds of Malaysians investors out of millions.

According to an ABC report, the company is controlled by Australian Veronica Macpherson and received over A$110 million (S$119 million), mostly from Singaporean and Malaysian investors.

Although based in Singapore, Macro Realty Developments Pte Ltd offered investments to fund property developments in Pilbara, Western Australia.

Investors were promised returns as high as 18 per cent yearly.

The investment scheme was reported to have been heavily promoted in Singapore and Malaysia since 2014.

However, KPMG liquidator Hayden White told ABC that the scheme collapsed last year with creditors owed more than A$200 million.

The company's winding up in the Australian Federal Court was part of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) case into the controversial company.

ASIC is also investigating Macpherson over potential offences of stealing, fraud and forgery.

The company is also being investigated by the Singapore Police.

Promotional material from September 2014 told investors the business had other sources of revenue when it did not and that guarantors owned land assets when they did not.

According to court documents, the alleged Ponzi scheme raised almost A$110 million from its 1,700-plus investors who were told their funds were being used for property developments but were instead used to pay the company's expenses, including the interest payments to early investors.

The scheme collapsed when Macro did not have enough new business to meet its expenses, including crippling interest bills, causing it to stop paying investors.

There were 651 investors from Malaysia, 981 from Singapore, 31 from Australia, 58 from the United Kingdom and 17 from continental Europe.

Following the scheme's collapse, Macpherson's financial services licence and passport were cancelled and her other active Australian companies were wound up by the Australian Federal Court.

More than 950 Singapore investors scammed in bogus property development deals

A victim lost $20,000, another more than $300,000, while a third pulled out his $50,000 in time.

They were among more than 950 Singapore-based investors of a A$100 million (S$107 million) Ponzi scheme in Australia, involving 18 companies controlled by Australian Veronica Macpherson that were ordered to wind up last month.

Justice Michael Barker of the Australian Federal Court said: "The evidence points strongly to the conclusion that the defendants form part of a group of companies which have raised in excess of A$100 million from private investors by way of an apparent Ponzi scheme."

The judge, in decision grounds issued last month, added that the companies' methods showed "there is a need to ensure investor protection, and a real risk to the public interest that warrants protection".

The scheme urged investors to put money into property developments in Western Australia's Pilbara area, including Newman Estate.

Ponzi schemes usually have little or no real investments or assets, with investor returns financed by money from later investors.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission, which led the winding-up move in court, alleged that more than 1,700 investors lent Macro Group companies almost A$110 million between July 2014 and March last year and received interest payments - almost all of which were made using the money from new investors.

When Macro did not have enough new investors to meet its expenses, including interest bills, it stopped the payments to investors, leading to the collapse of the Ponzi scheme, according to court documents.

The scheme had 981 investors from Singapore, 651 from Malaysia, 58 from Britain, 17 from continental Europe and 31 from Australia.

Many Singapore victims The Straits Times spoke to were retirees, like Mr Chan, who declined to have their identities disclosed.

Mr Chan had put in $20,000 in 2015 through Singapore-based Macro Realty Developments. Funds were collected from investors over four payments in 2015.

He said the interest payable for the 12-month tenure varied between 14 per cent a year for sums up to $49,000 and 16 per cent for $50,000 and above.

"Those who invested $100,000 or more were given free trips to the site area in Australia," he added. He lodged a police report in March last year after Macro defaulted.